On Nov. 14, the Winona State University women’s basketball team made an incredible comeback against the Southeastern Oklahoma University Stormers. The Warriors won the game 63-60, having been behind for the first three quarters and pulling ahead in the fourth.
“There was a lot of team chants and motivation. I kept thinking ‘this is it!’” We had very good bench energy,” fourth-year player Hailey Markworth said.
The Stormers won the first points of the game, starting with a lead in points. For the first play, the Stormers won the face-off but missed their shot on their attempt. The Warriors caught the rebound, which then got stolen by the Stormers and sunk for a two-pointer.
“It was a big adjustment defensively, to be really keen on our principles of being in gaps, because they run a lot of back screens, so you’re obviously going to get hit by those if you’re not in your gap.” third year forward Megan Schuman said.
Going into the second quarter, the Warriors were still behind. The Warriors had managed to keep the Stormers to 19 points the entire first half but were desperate for points. Right before the half-time buzzer, the Warriors took a shot for a three-pointer. As the ball flew, the buzzer rang, and the entire crowd watched in despair as the ball sank with a perfect swish into the hoop.
“At halftime, Coach [Wurtz] emphasized getting better looks on offense. We just did a good job of adjusting to that, trying to get the ball in a low post, get the best shots we could, and recognize that even if shots aren’t sinking now, they will eventually,” Schuman said.
The first lead the Warriors took was with 6:18 left in the fourth quarter, with a score of 45-44. Fans were waving around pom-poms and screaming from the bleachers as their hope had reignited for our team.
“We had open shots all game, but in the fourth quarter, they really started hitting, which felt really good,” Schuman explained.
Near the end of the game, the Warriors were up 61-60. During a rebound, both teams lost control of the ball, and the Warriors called a timeout to get their heads in the game. With nine seconds left on the clock, they had to maintain their lead; there would be no chance to score back if the Stormers were allowed any points.
“As a team, we say, “and now we go,” It’s a way to keep our momentum going once we get it,” Markworth explained.
As the clock ticked down, the Warriors withheld the Stormers from scoring any points; in fact, the Warriors got several penalty shots from the Stormers’ aggressive offense. The clock was held at 0.5 seconds as the Warriors sank two penalty shots back-to-back, leaving the score at 63-60.
“I’m happy with our adjustments in the second half. Obviously, they put a lot of pressure on the ball, so we started to limit our dribbles, and just look for the pass off a split action, which opened more shots and cut off drives,” Schuman said.
Overall, the Warriors are proud of the eventful game and narrow win. The team adapted well on the court and had great bench energy despite being behind most of the game.
“We recognize that our shots are going to go on eventually; we just have to trust the work we put in,” Markworth said.
